The Exam
by goldensphere
Summary: The grade eight students of Matrixa Complexo Advanced Math Academy have just gotten back their exams with rather unexpected results...


**Hello everyone. Here is a one-shot that I randomly thought of. Enjoy reading!**

 **I do not own Pokémon in any way.**

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 **The Exam**

The grade eight class of Matrixa Complexo Advanced Maths Academy sat in silence as their math teacher, Mr. Kenobi, entered the dim-lit classroom with a grave look. The old man stroked his white beard and took a seat in the teacher's desk. He cleared his throat.

"I assume that you all must have been waiting for your exam results for quite a long time," he said. "And I must tell you, I am here with the results."

A long silence followed after that. Then he spoke again.

"But, unfortunately, I have some bad news." He looked around the class with solemn eyes. "And that is, you have all failed the exam. All, except one."

Paul looked uncomfortable as everyone turned around to him. Obviously it would be him, the best student of the class, who had passed.

"No," continued Mr. Kenobi. "Surprisingly, the passing student is someone who hardly ever gets good marks in this subject."

May crossed her fingers under her desk and Dawn looked up hopefully.

"And that person is"—the teacher paused for a while and his eyes travelled around the classroom—"Ash Ketchum."

Everyone looked curiously at the teacher to see if he were joking.

"Congratulations Ash," the man said with twinkling eyes. "You have gotten a perfect score on your Poincaré-Bendixon Theorem math exam."

Gary's and Drew's mouths dropped open at the same time as they gazed at the raven-head.

Ash nervously scratched his head. "Well, ehe, y'see, I _did_ study quite a bit."

Mr. Kenobi walked around the class, handing back each student his or her exam.

 _What? This can't be right!_ Paul thought bitterly as he skimmed through his exam. _What went wrong? How could **Ash** of all people do better than me? How? _

Paul stopped at the fourth page of the exam where he had drawn a trajectory diagram. He looked at the mark doubtfully and examined the diagram for a while. Finally, he decided to ask the teacher about it.

 _Hmph._

Once the teacher had finished handing back the exams, he went back to his seat to relax a bit. Paul walked up to him.

"Um, Mr. Kenobi," he said in his most average-student voice. He showed him his diagram. "What was my mistake here? Can you please explain to me?"

Mr. Kenobi looked at Paul with tired eyes.

"I have become a rather old man now," the teacher replied in a low voice. "Let the old guy have some rest for a while." Saying that, he leaned back in his chair and slowly closed his eyes.

"Uhh..." Paul stared at him for a long time.

Mr. Kenobi opened an eye and peered at the plum-head.

"Why not go ask Ash about it?" the man mumbled, gesturing to Ash. "After all, he got a hundred percent. He must know what he's doing."

"Or, never mind," Paul started turning to go back to his desk.

"Wait," Mr. Kenobi said, stopping him. "There is no need to be embarrassed. Your intention is to learn. Go ask him."

The man looked at him so insistingly and Paul had a feeling that the teacher would not let him go back to his seat until he asked Ash.

"Hm," Paul mumbled, feeling awkward.

 _I can't believe I am doing this,_ he thought doubtfully as he headed towards the raven-head's desk. _Just get it over with, Paul. When the old man's satisfied, you can go back to your desk. Make it quick._

"Oh, hey Paul!" Ash exclaimed looking surprised. "What's up?"

Paul wanted to just head back. It was the most awkward experience he had ever had in his life. But he saw the teacher watching him from the corner of his eye and knew he had no choice. He refocused on Ash, glaring at him with distaste.

"He wants some help figuring out his mistake on the exam," Mr. Kenobi called out from his seat.

Paul felt like face-palming. All eyes were on him now.

"Paul is asking _Ash_ for _help_ for an _exam_!" laughed Drew, pulling out his phone to record. "Never thought this day would ever come."

" _For the first time in forever_ _~"_ Gary started singing, soon joined by a few other boys.

"Oh," said Ash with a toothy grin. "Okay. Well, a trajectory diagram looks kinda like a swirly. See?" Ash pointed at his own diagram.

" _Genius_ ," Paul mumbled sarcastically while peering at Ash's so called 'trajectory diagram'.

Ash looked perplexed. "What's with the sarcasm?" he demanded, his voice laced with annoyance. "It looks perfectly fine to me!"

"Ash," Paul sighed exasperatedly. "Poincaré-Bendixon Theorem trajectory diagrams do _not_ have squiggles in them."

Few kids snickered, and more kids started looking up to see the commotion. This lead to a furious Ash, as he clenched his fists and immediately stood up, facing Paul.

"Hey! Well, am _I_ the one with full marks or are _you?_ You _failed_ the exam! Looks like someone's not Mr. Perfect anymore," he spat angrily. "I made squiggles on it, and I got a hundred. That means _my_ diagram is _correct_!"

"Hmph," mumbled Paul, turning away. "I disagree."

With their own exams forgotten, the rest of the class stopped what they were doing to see what would happen next. For once, Paul didn't feel awkward for being the center of attention.

Ash opened his mouth, then closed it again. His expression was one of something between dislike, confusion, and annoyance.

Paul raised his eyebrows. "Well?" he said.

"Well, I disagree with _you,"_ Ash said unexpectedly.

"Oh is that so?" Paul said, making a face as if this were a waste of his time. "Well then, prove to me that your diagram is correct."

Ash scoffed. "Because the teacher—"

"He's just a dumb old man!" Paul interrupted. "That proves nothing."

"Rude!" Dawn shouted angrily.

Both boys turned around.

"Well _excuse me,_ Mister!" she cried, boldly walking up to Paul. "But you have no right to talk like that about the teacher!"

Paul looked at her with his eyebrows raised. "And since when, may I ask, does this have to do anything with you?"

Dawn placed her hands on her hips and glared daggers at the boy.

"Look," Paul said impatiently. "I am not in the mood of dealing with your girly little problems or whatever. So why don't you just go—"

"Girly little problems?!" she yelled, her eyes widening. " _Girly little problems?_ Does it look like I'm joking about this?!"

"Yup," he replied simply.

The girl clenched her fists. _How dare he insult her like that?_ "Oh you—"

"Dawn," interrupted the teacher. "You're ruining the scene. Let the boys debate! It good for their young minds."

The blunette's mouth dropped open. She turned back to Paul and huffed.

"Never mind," she said. "I take my words back."

Saying that, she walked back to her desk. Ash blinked.

"Um, what just happened?" said the raven-head.

Paul turned back to Ash.

"Anyways," said the plum-head. "Like I said, that proves nothing. Admit it, you have no proof. You are wasting my time. Goodbye."

The boy hmphed and turned away, heading back to his desk.

"What is even going on?" said Drew, snickering. "It's like they're doing a play."

Ash just stood there frozen.

"Ash?" said the teacher. "I think it's about time to end the scene. Class is almost over."

The boy looked confused.

"Um, what do you mean?" he asked with furrowed eyebrows.

The teacher walked up to Ash and patted him on the back.

"You always ask these whats and whys~," he started singing. "Your little minds are filled with lies~." He turned to the rest of the class. "You always ask me what to do. Those little wonders come to you. So let me tell you what is true. Oh. Just listen to me. Just listen to me.

"Ash, I know you always felt stress. I have something I will confess. Although it's really hard, I know. I noticed that you don't let go. Ashy-boy, listen to me. It's all a trick. Oh can't you see? I always knew you'd never cheat. So I offered you my answer sheet. While shaking your head, you told me no. There is just one way to go. You were confident, and tried your best. But yet, failed badly on your test. While marking it, I felt bad for you. You're honest, innocent, and polite too. I always saw your helpless eyes. Gazing sadly at the skies~."

"I'm not helpless!" said Ash defensively, causing kids to laugh. Mr. Kenobi held up his hand for silence. Once everyone was quiet again, he continued singing.

"So I knew you'd feel bad if you saw what you got. 'You'll be so sad,' to myself I thought. I had an idea to make you feel better. So I gave you an A+ for your grade letter. I knew you'd be happy if you got better than all. So I gave a C- to the top student, Paul. Those other bad grades didn't matter to me. I only felt sympathy for you, you see.

"Now it is time for the truth to be told. My dear students, I'm getting old. In just few years, I will retire. All of you I do admire. So it's time for me to say goodbye. Oh yeah, and Paul, you're an awesome guy~." Then, while staring at Paul's disgusted expression, he finished, "So goodbye~."

There was silence for a while after Mr. Kenobi finished singing his song, then one by one, everyone started clapping. The teacher gave a tiny smile.

"Now, now," he shushed the class.

"Wait, so basically you told me to go and ask Ash for help when you knew his was wrong?!" demanded Paul, staring at the teacher disbelievingly.

"I knew you knew it was wrong," explained Mr. Kenobi, looking Paul in the eye. "And I knew it would make Ash happy to see that _you,_ the smartest guy— er— _studen_ t in the class asking _him_ for _help_!"

Paul looked at the teacher as if he were crazy.

"Anyways," sighed the teacher while gazing at the clock. "Must've missed the bell while I was singing. Run along to your next class. You're already thirty minutes late."

Everyone started to get up, talking about what had just happened.

"I guess my mark was too good to be true," the raven-head mumbled, looking down.

"Cheer up!" Gary exclaimed, putting his arms around Ash's shoulders. "It's not like Mr. K's gonna change the mark or something! Aww. He seems to think you're _special!_ "

Ash playfully shoved him off. Gary shoved him back, knocking him to the floor. He looked amused at his weak little friend.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Drew cried suddenly, looking at the teacher. "Aren't you, like, Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars?!"

Mr. Kenobi chuckled. "Ah, no," he said. "That's my identical twin brother. We have rather different personalities and goals in life." Then he added, "It's quite amusing, actually, to see so many people mixing us up."

"Oh," replied the grass-head looking slightly disappointed. "Never mind, then."

The rest of the students exited the classroom, heading towards their next class (which was Matrix Studies).

It had certainly been an interesting start to the day.

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 **And done! Yes, I made the song sung by the teacher myself, and yes, it was absolutely random (as I had randomly made the story on the spot as I wrote it). Anyways, that's all. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review, and have a great day!**


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